


There is no I (in Avenger)

by tony_octopus



Category: Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Team Bonding, Teddy makes some friends, Teddy's Pov, YoungAvengersHE2k17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 11:25:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13293846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tony_octopus/pseuds/tony_octopus
Summary: All the best friendships start with being shot at by a futuristic laser.





	There is no I (in Avenger)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my contribution to the Young Avengers Holiday Exchange 2017. I hope you'll like it!
> 
> As of yet un-beta-ed.

The old door creaked ominously as Teddy stepped into the ruined Avengers Mansion. Like the first time, it almost felt like he was treading on hallowed ground, but unlike his last visit he was alone, free to bask in this feeling without Greg here to disturb it.

 

Greg. The reason he came here once more, to make sure that his former friend hadn’t come back with someone else and ransacked the place like he’d suggested. As Teddy let his gaze wander around the dust and rubble he couldn’t very well tell what had already been destroyed and what was a casualty of vandalism, but as far as he saw there were no obvious signs of looting.

 

He breathed a sigh of relief and already made to turn around when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. It was only through years of controlling his emotions and the effect they had on his shape-shifting that he didn’t rip through his clothes right there. He did make himself a little bigger, just a tad bulkier to be on the safe side, as he made his way towards the dark hallway leading further into the house.

 

If there were looters in here then he would make sure that they wouldn’t return. He realized that he could hardly throw stones in that direction, but he felt almost honor bound to protect the Avengers’ legacy after nearly besmirching it himself.

 

The energy blast came as a surprise. He was thrown into the closest wall, more fissures appearing in the already cracked plaster. His healing kicked in instantly as always, the pain hardly noticeable before it was gone again.

 

“Shit, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that, it was self-defense! Are you okay?!”

 

Teddy squinted into the dim light to try and make out what had attacked him. All he could see was a vaguely humanoid shape…in red? “Iron Man?” That didn’t make any sense at all.

 

“Iron Lad, actually.” The silhouette walked closer, into the light streaming through a hole in the wall. Now Teddy could see that while the figure was indeed wearing a robotic suit, it was smaller that he himself would normally be, and the suit itself didn’t look like any he had ever seen Iron Man wear. He had never heard of Iron Lad before though, and he was proud to say that he was quite knowledgeable on the topic of superheroes.

 

The armor spoke again, and now Teddy could pinpoint the source of that mechanical ring to its voice. “If you’re here to vandalize the Mansion I suggest you leave. As you’ve seen I’m more than capable of taking you on if I have to.” The suit shifted on its feet so seamlessly that it looked nearly human. “I don’t want to hurt you though, so I’d prefer it if you left. Did I? Hurt you?”

 

Teddy shook his head, swallowing to get his own voice to work again. “No, I’m okay. I’m not here to steal anything either, I thought you were. I mean, I thought you were a looter, not…” He gestured at the armor. “An Avenger yourself?”

 

Iron Lad raised his arms as if to ward off an attack. “Oh no, no, I’m not an Avenger! I just live here, kind of.”

 

“You live here?” Teddy raised a dubious eyebrow, his gaze once again wandering from the hole in the wall to the cracks in the plaster to the destroyed entryway. “You shouldn’t be here if you’re not an Avenger. It’s still Tony Stark’s property, even if it was destroyed.”

 

The armor shook its head. “You don’t understand. I tried to get the Avengers to help me, but no one even listened to what I had to say. At least I can use some of their resources here so that I can try to help myself.”

 

“The Avengers didn’t want to help you?” Teddy frowned, not liking the sound of that. The Avengers were still heroes, even if the team was scattered for the moment. Iron Lad didn’t look like someone who would waste their time, and at the very least Tony Stark would be interested in his armor.

 

Iron Lad didn’t answer immediately, a tense silence stretching between them. Then he shook his head. “I don’t have to explain myself to you, and you shouldn’t be here either. I’m busy, so please leave now.”

 

Teddy set his jaw stubbornly. “Tell me one good reason why I shouldn’t call the police on you, or maybe the Avengers themselves.”

 

Maybe it was his imagination, but Teddy could swear that he could hear a wry smile in Iron Lad’s electronic voice. “And explain why you were here? Go right ahead.”

 

Teddy bit his lip, caught in his bluff. He could probably get away with saying that he was just a fan trying to get a look at the heroes’ lives, but he’d promised himself that he would stop lying, especially to save his own skin when he’d made a mistake. This very obviously counted.

 

He pushed off the wall and dusted himself off. “Fine, you’ve won. But I’ll keep an eye on you.”

 

The robotic laugh sounded more hollow than amused. “You do that.” With that Iron Lad vanished into the shadows of the silent mansion again.

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Teddy was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to forget his earlier meeting with the strange…man? Boy? It was hard to tell how old he was, with the armor distorting his voice. Either way, he couldn’t get Iron Lad out of his head. Luckily his mom didn’t notice his distraction at dinner, tired after a long day of work. He really hoped that she’d get some time off soon, she’d been working himself to the bone lately and there was only so much he could do to make it easier on her. Maybe he could make her some comfort food tomorrow, he could go to the supermarket after school and-

 

He was jerked out of his thoughts by a knock on his window. His fifth-story window. He sat bolt-upright in bed, turning his head and barely holding back a yelp at what he saw outside.

 

“Iron Lad!”

 

The armor was gesturing for him to open the window, to let him in, but Teddy really wasn’t sure if that was the best idea. Still, the other had followed him here, so he should make sure that this wouldn’t become a problem. Warily he got onto his knees on the bed and opened the window, blocking Iron Lad’s entry with his body.

 

“What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

 

“You’re Theodore Altman?”

 

Alright, this had gone from strange to officially creepy. “What do you want from me? I didn’t tell anyone I saw you, I swear.”

 

Iron Lad shook his head. “It’s not about that. Can I come in? Just to talk, I promise. Please.”

 

Teddy hesitated, weighing his options. He could close the window in Iron Lads face, and risk him forcing entry with his robo-suit. Or he could hope that he wasn’t being lied to, and that he could fight Iron Lad more efficiently on solid ground if it came to that.

 

He scooted back on the bed. “Come on in, but please be quiet, my mom is sleeping.”

 

Iron Lad nodded and flew inside, landing on the carpet of his room almost soundlessly but for the quiet hum of his repulsor boots. One more sign that he didn’t have anything to do with Iron Man, or there would most likely be a small crater in Teddy’s room.  He squashed the urge to offer his impromptu guest some tea, and crossed his arms.

 

“So, why did you follow me here?”

 

“I didn’t follow you, I found you independently from our earlier meeting.” Teddy face must have conveyed how much he doubted that because Iron Lad raised his arms in a gesture of peace. “It’s true! Let me explain.” 

 

He reached up towards his helmet and tugged it up and forward. There was a quiet whooshing noise, and the head of the armor came off, revealing a boy around Teddy’s age, maybe even a little younger.

 

“My name is Nathaniel Richards. I came to this time from the 30th century.”

 

What had he gotten himself into?

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

So apparently Kang the Conqueror was sitting at his desk. Not-yet-Kang, that is, come from the future to change it. Suddenly Teddy wasn’t so surprised anymore that the Avengers didn’t really listen to Nathaniel, but the other boy looked so earnest, so honestly afraid of becoming a super-villain, that Teddy didn’t have the heart to say so out loud. And his suit was pretty futuristic after all.

 

“Let me get this straight. You found me in some kind of failsafe program hidden in the data still left over inside the Vision’s body? And you looked me up in the phone book of all things?”

 

Nathaniel shrugged. “I used the computer at the mansion to help with the search, there are a lot of Altmans in New York City after all. It wasn’t that hard to repair.” He looked at Teddy searchingly. “So will you help me?”

 

Teddy didn’t answer right away. He wasn’t sure if he if he could help Iron Lad, or if he even should. He didn’t have any proof for his claims except for the armor he was wearing, and Teddy didn’t know him well enough to catch him in a lie. But…but if he agreed to this…

 

He could become a superhero. According to Nathaniel he had some kind of obscure connection to an Avenger, something at least the Vision had known about, and was listed as a sort of last resort should the Avengers ever disband. Like now.

 

And Teddy couldn’t deny that he wanted that. He wanted to be a hero, to use his powers for good, to help people. To redeem himself after selfishly misusing his gifts for such a long time. Wasn’t that what Nathaniel was offering, a chance at redemption? After all he himself wanted to change his fate, to keep from becoming one of the Avengers’ most bitter enemies. If he could find hope of that, then surely Teddy could set his own path straight, too.

 

He met Iron Lad’s eyes, determination filling him. “Alright, I’ll help you. But I’ve never fought anyone before; all I know is how to play basketball.”

 

It was almost comical how the other boy’s eyes widened, shining with disbelief and happiness. He jumped up as if to hug Teddy, but seemed to catch himself at the last moment when his heavy armor made a solid thunking noise against the floor.

 

“Thank you! God, I didn’t think I could convince anyone, but this is…yes, this is something, we can do it!” He shook Teddy’s hand so hard and fast that it might have hurt anyone without his abilities. “It’s no problem that you haven’t had any training, when I repaired the Avengers Mansion’s mainframe I found lots of training simulations and exercises, even robots to practice with. You can come by after school, I’ll be there! What kind of power do you have anyway?”

 

Teddy had to smile as he let the flood of words rush over him. It was the most animated he had seen the other boy so far, and suddenly it wasn’t so hard to believe that he was just a teenager like him, trying to live the best life he could.

 

He cleared his throat. “I’m a mutant. My main power is shape-shifting, with super-strength and healing as a secondary mutation.”

 

“Whoa, that’s a lot. Do you know your limits?” Nathaniel seemed to already be plotting their training regimen. It was a little endearing.

 

He shook his head. “I haven’t really had a chance to test them out. I can turn into people, down to their clothes, but I can only change my own body. I can grow wings and fly. I don’t know if I could…you know, grow something back if it got chopped off.” He looked a bit pale at the thought, shifting in his seat. “And I haven’t found anything I wasn’t able to lift yet. Haven’t tried juggling cars.” He grinned slightly. It was impossible not to feel giddy at the thought of becoming a hero, of his most long-standing fantasy becoming true. It was enough to push away the dread of everything else Nathaniel had told him.

 

The other boy laughed. “I’m not sure if that’s in the cards, but maybe we can go to a junk yard at night or something. I just have the suit Kang gave me, and my brain.”

 

“That’s already a lot from what I’ve seen. There aren’t many people who can repair a computer on Avengers level, or hack the Vision.”  He smiled encouragingly, and even under the armor Nathaniel seemed to relax. “Let’s just…try our best. I really hope I can help you, Nathaniel.”

 

“Nate,” he said with a smile of his own. “Friends call me Nate.”

 

“Nate then. Call me Teddy, I’m only Theodore when I’ve done something wrong that mom hears about.”

 

They laughed. It felt good.

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Training was at the same time what he’d expected and also like living in a dream. He went to the destroyed Mansion every day after school where Nate would already wait for him, a new program from the Avengers’ training schedule already loaded. It was a disaster. They had a long way to go before they could work together as a team, and they “died” so many times that Teddy lost count. Still, it felt productive, and when he dragged himself home to cook dinner for himself and mom he knew in his bones that he was accomplishing something. He was changing, growing, gaining more control with every new shift they tried.

 

Then Eli came.

 

Things were…difficult, for a while after that. Eli had amazing tactical knowledge, things that helped them improve the time for clearing the training missions by leaps and bounds. He was also bossy, stubborn, and had the shortest fuse Teddy had ever seen on someone their age. It seemed to bother Nate more than him, like Iron Lad feared he’d have leadership of the team he was founding ripped from his hands. Teddy tried to bridge the gap between them, but neither of the boys made it easy.

 

“I told you to cover my six!”

 

“And I told you that I’d try to surprise it from above, but you never listen to anything that doesn’t conform to your plans!”

 

It was like watching a ping-pong match.

 

“My plan was good, it would have worked if you hadn’t broken rank!”

 

“There are no ranks here, Eli! We’re a team! We have to adapt to changing situations in a fight, always blindly following the plan will get us killed!”

 

“I could really go for a milkshake right now!”

 

Silence. Eli and Nate turned to look at him with such perfect synchronicity that it gave him a good idea about the kind of teamwork they were theoretically capable of. He grinned sheepishly.

 

“I mean, we’ve been at it for a while, and we’ve never done anything outside of training before. I think it could be good for us to take a step back and relax for an afternoon. And there’s a really good milkshake place not far from here, I go there sometimes in the evening when we’re done here…” He rubbed the back of his neck, less and less convinced of his idea the longer they stared at him.

 

Incredibly, it was Eli who straightened from his aggressive posture and relaxed, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Sure, why not. It’s not like I have anything better to do, and we’re getting nowhere.”

 

Nate stepped from one foot to the other, the picture of indecision. “But I don’t know how long it will take Kang to find me. We can’t lose any time.”

 

Eli rolled his eyes. “It’s one afternoon, Iron Lad. You won’t beat Kang if you never give yourself any downtime. What do you do all day while we’re at school? Program more simulations and looks over the data you got from Vision, right? Live a little, man.”

 

Nate narrowed his eyes. “That’s rich coming from you.” However, his armor changed into simple jeans and a t-shirt even as he spoke, making him look like any other teen off the street. “Fine, lead the way, Teddy.”

 

The walk was spent mostly in silence, but thankfully it really wasn’t far from the old mansion. Once they were inside Teddy was happy to leave the other two to their bickering while he went to see if there was anything new on the menu. He loved this place, they used so many fresh ingredients and their shakes always tasted amazing.

 

“Do they put real Oreos in there?” Eli had come up behind him and was looking up at the menu as well.

 

Teddy grinned brightly. “They do! They use all real fruit and chocolates and stuff, it’s the best. I think I’ll go with strawberry and Daim today, I’ve been wanting to try that combo for ages.”

 

Mind made up he went to order and pay for himself. He noted with some satisfaction that the arguing behind him had ceased, and Nate and Eli seemed to actually be agreeing on the awesomeness of Oreos. Progress.

 

Once they all had their shakes they sat down in a corner booth, the quiet around them much more amicable now. Teddy made a mental note to make a little more food for his lunch box starting tonight. Maybe Eli just got hangry and could be pacified with a few snack breaks during training.

 

“Hey, is either of you allergic to anything? I can’t eat pineapples, they give me hives.” And they were staring at him again, did he have something on his face? He just wanted to get them to relax a little, that wasn’t too much to ask, was it? He took a sip of his milkshake and hummed quietly. “Gosh, I love strawberry milkshakes.”

 

Nate seemed to hesitate for a moment, smiling bashfully. “Well, I…I’m a little lactose intolerant. But they even have lactose free shakes here, so no worries,” he added quickly when Teddy gasped.

 

“Thank god, I’m sorry for not asking before. Next time you can suggest where we’ll go.”

 

“Geez, stop apologizing for not being perfect, Ted.” Eli rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I’m not allergic to or intolerant of anything food related.”

 

“Great, good to know. Then I may have a surprise tomorrow, I’m not sure yet.” He’d have to go and pick up some lactose free milk on the way home, or see if he could modify his cookie recipe to make it edible for Nate.

 

Nate looked confused. “How is it a surprise if you tell us about it beforehand?”

 

Teddy took care to shift the blush away from his cheeks. “Well, you don’t know what exactly it will be, so it’s still a surprise.”

 

“Don’t complain about free food, Nate.” Was Eli actually smiling? Definitely the hangry kind, then. In his mind he changed his plans to triple chocolate brownies, if he could find lactose free chocolate.

 

He gasped melodramatically. “Eli! How did you know the surprise would be food?! Don’t tell me you can read minds!”

 

If Eli rolled his eyes any harder they’d fall out of his head for sure. “You just asked about food allergies, you dork, it’s not a big leap.” He finished his milkshake with one last noisy slurp and got up. “I have to go now, grandma will worry if I’m late for dinner. Thanks for the recommendation though, the shake was good.”

 

“Wait! We can walk to the subway together.” Teddy quickly got up, too, and grabbed his milkshake off the table. “Want to come with, Nate?”

 

Nate shook his head. “It’s alright, I wanted to look over those sims again after getting back, so I should get on that. I’d just have to double back to the mansion anyway.” He smiled apologetically. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow?”

 

Teddy shot him a reassuring smile in return. “Yeah, absolutely! Same time, same place, with a surprise.”

 

Eli snorted. “If you keep talking about it nobody will be surprised at all.” He went ahead towards the door, but waited there for his teammate.

 

Teddy bent towards Nate one last time and stage-whispered, “I bet he’s just dying to know what I’ll make, you’ll see.”

 

Nate’s laughter followed them out.

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Teddy’s weekly baking bashes were a hit with the guys. Whether it was cookies or cupcakes or muffins he made, they rarely lasted more than a day, let alone the whole week. Whenever his mom came home to see him baking she just smiled and kissed his cheek, telling him not to overwork himself. As if he were the one she had to worry about. He made sure to put an extra snack into her lunch pack for the next day, to give her a taste of the fruit of his labor.

 

It was pure that that he’d made a batch of cookies the night before Billy came to train with them for the first time. He was starting to notice that Nate liked to keep new teammates a surprise, maybe in case they bailed out and to keep the team from being disappointed. He would have definitely looked forward to meeting Billy. He could have made a cake if Nate had told him, but as it was at least they had double chocolate chip cookies.

 

Billy was…something else. He looked like he was ready to start a fight and jump behind the closest cover at the same time. The smile on his face was so sharp that Teddy found himself thanking his luck at the mutation draw for his super-fast healing. It might have something to do with Billy’s own mutation, which he seemed to have very little control over. One moment he’d be shooting lightning, and the next there would be a strangely shaped cactus growing in the middle of the training room. He could see how that would be frustrating, though Billy seemed to be more embarrassed than anything else.

 

“Mind if I sit here with you?” He quickly sat down before Billy could object, smiling disarmingly. “Are you okay? That didn’t look like a soft landing when you tripped over your cactus.”

 

Billy grimaced. It looked kind of funny, his whole face scrunching up and contorting. Teddy wondered if he could even shift to make his face do that. Either way he didn’t look too happy, so he added quickly, “I can go if you’d rather pull the bristles out yourself, I just thought I’d offer a hand or two.”

 

The other boy shook his head. “I’m okay. The only thing that’s broken is my dignity. And the cactus was out of rubber, actually. Don’t ask me.”

 

“Aw man, none of us have any dignity left, you’ll fit right in.” Teddy grinned, hoping to put the new guy a little more at ease. “You should have seen me that one time when Nate and distracted me and instead of growing wings I grew another pair of arms. I looked like a green Machamp.”

 

That got him a snort of what was hopefully laughter. At least Billy was smiling now. “You like Pokemon?”

 

“Are you kidding? I love Pokemon, I’m always saving up in advance for when a new edition inevitably comes out. I have a giant Pikachu pillow plushie.” It only occurred to him that in most circumstances this wasn’t something to be proud of. He blamed it entirely on having grown so comfortable around Nate and Eli that he’d stopped censoring his dorky side. He only hoped their new teammate would tolerate his nerdy side with similar indifference. Billy was grinning outright, showing his teeth, and that had to be a good sign.

 

“That’s so cool! I used to want one of those giant Suicunes they sell at the Pokemon Center in Japan, but I never got one.”

 

The new guy was a nerd. Teddy could almost hear angels sing a merry hallelujah in his head, that’s how happy he was to meet someone who spoke his language.

 

“While that would have been the best ever, I have no idea where I would put that. I can neither dethrone Pikachu nor am I ever getting rid of my XXL Iron Man TsumTsum.”

 

“You got Iron Man! I’m trying to collect all of the Avengers in small, but there’s so many, I’ll be out of space soon to hang them up. And there’s just no way to get Scarlet Witch anymore, it’s like they pulled all of her merchandise after what happened.” Now that Billy mentioned it, Teddy could spot a big, red A sewed to Billy’s backpack. His nerd-dar had to be really off from disuse if he missed that.

 

“True, being a fan of Scarlet Witch is tough these days. It’s like people are forgetting all the good she’s done with the other heroes in the past. I have to admit though, my personal favourite will always be the Wasp. She’s got the “fashion designer by day, hero by night” thing down to an art! I want to have my life in order like that one day, too.”

 

That got him a laugh. “I’ll be glad when I have the hero thing down a little better, no matter if night or day. My powers are a complete disaster right now.”

 

Teddy put a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be okay, that’s what we’re all here for. It’s not like any of us have done any real heroing yet, we’re all only training. And it’ll be a lot more fun now that someone gets the references I make.”

 

Billy smiled again, and up close like this it didn’t look sharp at all. In fact, it was warm and bright, and Teddy made a mental note to make it happen more often.  

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

This was it. His heart was beating so fast, he could feel it all the way up in his throat, and he was really glad that the dark green color of his Hulkling form hid any paleness from prying eyes.

 

He took a steadying breath and looked from Iron Lad to Patriot to Asgardian, to the church across the street in silent question. How were they all going to get in there without the police stopping them right away?

 

It was Eli who spoke up first, ever the strategist.

 

“How about we jump in through the rose window?”

**Author's Note:**

> And the rest was history ;)


End file.
